New Skirmishes

The political front heats up

As weary U.S. diplomats know all too well, the protracted civil war in El Salvador is as much a psychological struggle as a military one. In military terms, the war remains at a stalemate. On other fronts, however, the struggle is definitely heating up. Two skirmishes:

> At El Salvador's Comalapa International Airport, smiles and warm handshakes were the only weapons on display last week, as U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Deane Hinton and a swarm of local dignitaries turned out to welcome U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Jeane Kirkpatrick on the fourth stop of a five-nation Latin American tour. On her arrival, Kirkpatrick declared that the Marxist guerrillas in El Salvador are "not winning anything." The Salvadorans had a message of their own for Kirkpatrick to pass on to the Reagan Administration: they want an addition of at least $35 million to the $25 million in military aid that Congress is currently considering for El Salvador in 1983.

> Back in Washington the mood seemed hardly favorable to such a request. Some outspoken Congressmen feel that the U.S. should relax its longstanding support for the Salvadoran government and instead pursue power-sharing negotiations with the Marxist-led Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, a course the guerrillas have long advocated. Said New York Congressman Stephen Solarz: "There's a growing concern that our policy is leading nowhere."

That feeling was bolstered last week by a Washington Post report that Assistant Secretary of State Thomas O. Enders, chief architect of the State Department's policy toward El Salvador, had recommended to the National Security Council that negotiations with the guerrillas get under way. The Post report was quickly disavowed, however, by State Department Spokesman Alan Romberg. Said Romberg: "We oppose negotiations over power sharing." Despite that denial, signs pointed to another round of political infighting over El Salvador. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.